Top seed and defending champion Andy Roddick set up a repeat of last year's final against Sebastien Grosjean after recording his first ever victory over Lleyton Hewitt, ending the Australian's hopes of a record-equalling fourth Stella Artois Championship.

Roddick recovered from losing his serve early in the match to defeat the sixth seed 7-6(8), 6-3 in 1 hour, 15 minutes.

Hewitt came into the semifinal having won 20 of his last 21 matches at The Queen's Club as well as all three of his previous meetings against the American.

But their last clash was nearly three years ago in the quarterfinals at the US Open, and a lot has changed for both players since then.

Nevertheless, it was Hewitt who went up the early break to lead 3-2 in the first set, and the sixth seeded Australian served for the opener at 5-4.
But a loose game handed Roddick the chance he needed, and the 21-year-old made the most of his opportunity to force a tie-break.
As expected, it was close all the way, with Roddick saving a set point at 5-6 with a 128 mph second serve on the line that Hewitt failed to return.
At 7-7, Hewitt sent a forehand wide to give Roddick his first set point, which he converted with a service winner.

With the momentum firmly in his favour, Roddick broke Hewitt in the opening game of the second set and never looked back, equaling his record serve from Friday with a 153 mph delivery - one of his 15 aces - and eventually clinched a place in his fourth final of the year when Hewitt double faulted for the second time on match point.

"I think he played a better first set than I did today, but he played a pretty sloppy game when he served for it at 5-4," said Roddick.
"It gave me a chance and I played a really solid tie-break. In the second set, I was very pleased with the way I played.
"Overall, I'm a better player than last year. I thought I played great here last year, and my form this time kind of matches that.
But I'm better between the ears than I was a year ago.
I've got more confidence on a day to day basis.
I might lose tomorrow, but it wouldn't shock my confidence as much as it maybe would have done a year ago."

Roddick, who has won two titles this year in San Jose and the NASDAQ-100 Open in Miami, will be looking to claim his 14th career title on Sunday.

He leads the head-to-head series against Grosjean 3-1, with their last meeting taking place at the ATP Masters Series in Montreal last year, when Roddick also went on to claim the title.

Grosjean's only victory came on clay in the semifinals of the Davis Cup in 2002 in Paris.

Looking ahead to the final, Roddick added: "It feels like déjà vu. He's a very clever player. He can hurt you with his forehand, he serves very big for someone not so tall. There's not a whole lot he doesn't do well. He returns well, he can volley, there's no glaring holes in his game.
But I'm excited about being in the final again and I'll give it a go."

For Hewitt, whose hopes of joining John McEnroe and Boris Becker with four titles at The Queen's Club, there were still some positives to be gained.

"It's been a great week, great preparation for Wimbledon, I've got four matches under my belt against four different kinds of players," said the Australian.
"I felt like I hit the ball well. I returned well throughout the whole match.
Obviously he's going to serve aces and he's got a great serve, but I felt I returned it well.
He's a better player than he was when I last played him, but I came out the blocks well and had him under pressure.
It was just a momentum swing after I lost the first set."

Andy Roddick successfully defended his title with a straight sets victory over Sebastien Grosjean in the final of the Stella Artois Championship.

In what was a repeat of the 2003 final at The Queen's Club, Roddick served 11 aces en route to a 7-6, 6-4 win in 1 hour, 23 minutes.

It was the American's 14th career ATP title and his third of the year, having won in San Jose and the NASDAQ-100 Open in Miami.

Roddick's win lifts him up to fourth position in the INDESIT ATP 2004 Race, and the 21-year-old American has now won 15 of his last 16 matches on grass.

"It's nice to win here again," said Roddick.
"Any time you win a tournament, overall it's a good feeling.
My big concern coming into the tournament was getting some matches on grass.
But with getting some wins over some Top 10 players in the process, I couldn't ask for any more."

It was a case of déjà vu in London, with the hot weather conditions also similar to those of last year's final.
However, while Roddick breezed through to take the title in less than an hour 12 months ago, Grosjean made life much more difficult for the American on this occasion.

The Frenchman, seeded No. 5, was looking to claim his fourth career title and second on grass, having claimed his maiden ATP title in Nottingham in 2000.

And, having dropped just one set en route to the final, Grosjean looked in confident mood as he created two set points on Roddick's serve at 6-5 in the first set.
But Roddick, who twice this week produced world record serves of 153 mph - first against Paradorn Srichaphan in the quarterfinals and again against three-time winner Lleyton Hewitt in the semis - fired a service winner on the first, while Grosjean missed his opportunity on the second by pushing an attempted forehand winner wide.
That error let Roddick off the hook, and the American took full advantage in the tie-break by clinching it 7-4 with his 10th ace of the match.

"I was very lucky in the first set," said Roddick.
"He had a good look at the forehand on set point.
I hit a serve at 126, 127 mph up the T and he was all over it - he knew exactly what I was going to do with it.
But he missed the bunny a bit and I was lucky, but after that I took advantage of it in the tie-break."

However disappointed the Frenchman must have felt, he quickly put it behind him as he broke Roddick's serve to love in the opening game of the second set and won the first six points.

But Roddick hit straight back, forging his way back into the game and broke to level the scores at 1-1.

The set was seemingly heading towards another tie-break until the 10th game, when two backhand errors by Grosjean cost the Frenchman his serve and the match.

"If I'd have won that first set, maybe things would have been different for me," said Grosjean.
"It was a good match. Andy served very well again today, and it's tough to play against him.
But it's been a good week for me. I've played a good tournament and it's good preparation for Wimbledon.
I won my first tournament on grass [in Nottingham in 2000] so it's a good surface for me.
I maybe play a little bit more aggressive on grass than I do on other surfaces.
Roddick's the best server on the tour.
He also goes to the net more than he used to, and he's a little more aggressive on his second serve.
He can go flat, he can go wide.
But he doesn't only count on his serve."

En route to his fourth final of the year, Roddick defeated Karol Kucera, Mario Ancic, No. 7 seed Srichaphan and sixth seed Hewitt, his first win in four meetings against the Australian.

Grosjean reached his 11th career final with wins over Todd Reid, Ian Flanagan, Radek Stepanek and Korean qualifier Hyung-Taik Lee.